Sofrider experience and comparisons

[Rick Harker]

H Riders,
I'm looking for feedback from riders who are new to the Cruzbike experience that haven't ridden a bent before.
Mostly for comparison from upright to bent and riding experience.
Comfort factor comparison to an upright particularly on a familiar ride.
Learning curve.
Handling on downhill twisty roads (important).
If you have ridden a bent before how does/do they compare.

I'm awaiting the delivery of a Sofrider v2 and feeling a little apprehensive.

regards,

Rick.

 

[MrSteve]

H Riders,
I'm looking for feedback from riders who are new to the Cruzbike experience that haven't ridden a bent before.

Hi, Rick!
Alright, the V1 Cruzbike Sofrider in my garage is the first recumbent I've owned and ridden.

Mostly for comparison from upright to bent and riding experience.

For whatever reason, I cannot sit on any standard upright diamond-frame bicycle for longer than 20 minutes.
I recently attempted a 30 minute workout on a heavily-padded (non-recumbent) stationary bike, in a gym.
I endured extreme discomfort toward the end of the workout and abandoned the effort after only 20 minutes.
I prefer the upright bikes, because that's what my reflexes are trained for.
My body tells me that those days are long over: my Cruzbike has, for me, all-day, day after day comfort.

Comfort factor comparison to an upright particularly on a familiar ride.

There is no comparison.
(See above.)

Learning curve.

The learning curve was pretty steep and is ongoing, for me.
(I'm still learning how to pedal, hands-free.)
But...I'm old, in my fifties, so I'm teaching an old dog this new trick.
Also, add in the fact that I used to test-ride motorcycles for a living and you'll see
that I have a lot of normal rear-wheel drive single-track hard-wired reflexes
to contend with.
On the positive side, in my case, I'm way too brave concerning anything to do with two wheels.

Handling on downhill twisty roads (important).

Very neutral and responsive.
The steering, until you become acclimated to it, is very heavy and slow.
This is because of all the added mass associated with the front wheel:
your legs, the boom, the drivetrain and the other Cruzbike-specific front-wheel drive bits.
The Cruzbike, like an early 70's Yamaha TZ250 racebike I had the pleasure to try,
is best steered by leaning the bike...as opposed to just relying on the handlebars for
steering.

With the bottom-bracket up high, out of the way, insane (for a bicycle)
lean angles are possible.

Practice steering, starting, stopping, riding and pedaling far away from traffic!

If you have ridden a bent before how does/do they compare.

This is the only recumbent bicycle I've ever even sat on.
I imagine that the drivetrain efficiency is better than the average
rear-wheel drive recumbent, due to both the rigid front-end and the short chain.

I'm awaiting the delivery of a Sofrider v2 and feeling a little apprehensive.

I hope you end up enjoying it half as much as I enjoy mine.
:mrgreen:

Hope this helped,
Steve

 

[Rick Harker]

Thank Steve,
Thats the sort of real world, non advertising, result I was looking for.
As it turns out I raced the TZ 350. Loved it. But jumping from that to a Kwacka 9 scared the hell out of me, but I managed.

As for the recumbent experience I test rode a Rans Rocket and a Challenge something but the dealer let me have only a few minutes on each before asking which one I want to buy. The test ride was also just in his driveway. Hmm!

Thats when I saw video's of the Cruzbikes. I thought it a good place to start with the V2 and if I liked it then would turn my attention to the Silvio. From reading here in the forums I'm thinking I should go straight to the Silvio.

I guess I should walk first (rational thinking) then scare the hell out of myself.

Still waiting though.

Thanks again Steve,

regards,

Rick.

 

[Kamatu]

Rick Harker wrote: Thats when I saw video's of the Cruzbikes. I thought it a good place to start with the V2 and if I liked it then would turn my attention to the Silvio. From reading here in the forums I'm thinking I should go straight to the Silvio.

I haven't been bent yet, but the design and then the videos convinced me to give it a try over the rest of the recumbents (although I was thinking real hard about how to scrape up the cash for a Catrike Expedition :mrgreen: ).

Now if you wanted to go from A->B, I'd suggest a conversion then a Silvio. If you can fiddle, you can screw around a whole lot with the kit. Of course, if you don't fiddle, then disregard....

If all goes as planned, I'm going to go kit/kit/Silvio (unless Cruzbike suddenly gets down to the last Sofrider V1 and offers Bryan of BROL's discount to get rid of it real quickly I'd go that way instead of the first kit ). Kit #1 will be the learner and wife's bike eventually. Kit #2 will be my attempt at a more "workhorse" bike with cargo carrying capability, but I'm not sure which way I'll end up taking it, Xtracycle looks nifty, a delta trike build might work, but I'd like to keep it the right size for the bus racks so I could go into town on the bus instead of pedalling ten miles just to get to the edge of it. Silvio will be for me when the boy is old enough to keep up with us some on rides.

 

[Rick Harker]

A kit would be fine except i would have little patience and once I start I would always be looking at something better.
Another thing is that the V2 seems a big upgrade from the V1. That said and comparing Bentrideronline reviews between the two makes the decision making a lot easier.
I have a road bike with XT equipment on it that would be good for the Silvio but that bike would also be better for resale as is.
Until I know how they ride I'm going to be conservative. I may dislike the whole Cruz concept yet.
In the mean time I will have to wait. Hopefully not much longer.

Rick.

 

[drider]

I never rode a bent until my freerider. I spent a great deal of time on a diamond back touring bike in my 63 years of life and just swirched this last year due to some medical problems and this bike is going to let me ride as long as I am able to. The down hill, twisty rodes are not handled a great deal differently than on a diamond back once you have the balance of rideing in a different position. A huge parking lot with minimal cars helps the riding ability tremendously. The biggest plus to a softride/freesrider over the Silvio is the seat adjustablity if tis is important to a person. I don't think I've ridden a bike that is quite as much fun to ride and now that winter is on the wain I'm back up to doing a couple hundred miles a week depending on the weather.